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Self-employed clients

Prosecutor Stefan Kolodynski said Henshall had worked as a bookkeeper and tax assessor since 2006, operating as a sole trader under the names Hawkeswell Accounts Services and Gail Henshall Accounts Services.

“She was acting for a number of self-employed people. She submitted tax returns on behalf of her clients and made applications for tax rebates and notified HMRC of changes of address,” Mr Kolodynski told the crown court.

In December 2010 she and Troisi opened an internet gambling account with Skybet in Troisi’s name and using an address in Lowbridge Walk, Bilston, which was his address at times.

The account password was Abimar, a combination of Abigail and Mario, and it was funded from Troisi’s Lloyds bank account which had five debit cards – two in his name and three in Henshall’s.

“Two key aspects of the offending were that she could manipulate the addresses of clients and change correspondence to her own address and filling in tax rebate applications for her clients who were largely sole traders in the construction industry,” said Mr Kolodynski.

He explained that, working in that industry, they tended to have tax deducted from what they were paid and, at the end of the financial year, many would be entitled to rebates.

But Henshall submitted a total of 148 completely false rebate applications in relation to 11 of her clients.

And, having changed their supposed addresses to her own, she received a total of £296,025.20 between December 2010 and March last year.

Best placed on daily basis

Henshall had entered her pleas on the basis that she disputed that figure and estimated she had obtained £200-250,000 – but Mr Kolodynski said it had been checked by HMRC who confirmed that the amount it paid out was £296,025.20.

Of that, £209,518 was then transferred into Troisi’s Lloyds bank account from which, including winnings which went into it, there was a turnover of £269,357.

Gail Henshall

Bets were placed on a daily basis from the account, although Troisi said during his trial and still maintains he had no knowledge of the transactions, with Henshall gambling up to £25,000 a month.

For his part, Troisi was able to fund trips to Italy with ‘extremely generous spending at shops and restaurants’ while he was there, and the two of them regularly went to casinos.

Jibran Mirza, for Henshall, said she had a tendency to become involved in ‘intense and unstable relationships,’ but accepted it was her own gambling addiction which started it all.

“Her attitude is one of remorse. Hitherto she was of good character. That is lost, as is the previous standing she had in the community. Her Achilles heel was the gambling.”

Family stand by her

Mr Mirza added that Henshall has had to reveal the full extent of what she did to her family, but her husband of 28 years and her two adult daughters are standing by her.

Oliver Grimwood, for Troisi, conceded: “He accepts the outcome and the basis Your Honour will and must sentence him on.”

He pointed out that the money was frequently transferred into Troisi’s bank account around midnight and used for gambling by Henshall in the early hours of the morning.

Jailing the two, Judge Alan Parker told Henshall: “Working people would have to work for ten or 15 or 20 years to find themselves in receipt of £300,000 net of income tax; and it was money which had been paid to HMRC by those hard-working people.

“The figure would be eye-watering to the majority of people who earn a modest income from hard work, but you were obtaining that money and then squandering it in pursuit of your gambling addiction.”

And he told Troisi: “The fact that you had a trial and that in the pre-sentence report you have maintained the position that you are not guilty shows an absence of remorse.”